September 12 is National Seat Check Saturday, marking the beginning of a week dedicated to child safety. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has found that 3 out of 4 car seats are installed incorrectly, exposing children to unnecessary risk of injury or death in a crash.
LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) was developed to help make it easier to correctly install child safety seats. The LATCH systems uses anchors instead of the seat belt to secure the child safety seat in the car. When used correctly, seat belts and LATCH are equally safe to use to secure child safety seats. However, the LATCH system makes it easier to correctly install the child safety seat.
All child safety seats manufactured in the United States after September 2002 come with the attachment straps necessary to use the LATCH system. Inspection stations around the United States are standing by for parents to bring their cars in on Seat Check Saturday so that all car seat installations can be explained and demonstrated in person. Find the nearest station to you: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cps/cpsfitting/index.cfm.
http://childcarsafety.adcouncil.org/
http://twitter.com/childseatsafety